Food Service

Linfield College has an exclusive food service contract with Sodexo-America, LLC for the college's food service needs. In the summer of 2000, Dillin Commons (the cafeteria) was renovated, to provide a pleasant and warm atmosphere for all visitors and students. Sodexo has done an excellent job in providing for our summer clientele. A large part of this success come from the ability of the C&EP staff to supply Sodexo with the serving and front-of-the-house personnel from our student staff.

Sodexo provides a cafeteria service that is all-you-can-eat, and selections are bountiful. At Linfield, all-you-can-eat means that a person is able to choose only one hot entree their first time through the food service line, but can then feel free to go back through the line as many times as they need to satisfy their appetite. At breakfast, there is a cereal bar, fruit bar and the hot entrees. At lunch, there is a salad bar, dessert bar, the hot entrees and an occasional pasta bar or hamburger bar. For dinner, there is the salad bar, dessert bar and the hot entrees. During the lunch and dinner hours, there will be at least three hot entrees, one of which will be vegetarian. At all meals, there are ample drinks available, including milk, fruit juices and soda pop. For those that require a special diet, Sodexo is willing to assist if they can have advance notice.

The dining hall is only open during certain hours of the day, and the typical hours for meals to be served are as follows:

Saturday - Sunday Hours

Brunch: 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Dinner: 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Monday – Friday Hours

Breakfast: 7:00 – 10:30 a.m.

Lunch: 11:00 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

Dinner: 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

As a conference planner, you can expect that the dining hall will always be open during these hours. However, depending upon your group's needs and the numbers of people on campus, these hours may be extended.

Dining Room Access:

Upon a group's arrival at Linfield, all of the people designated to receive meals during their stay will receive a meal ticket or card at registration. It is extremely important to stress to conference participants, especially the youth, that they must always bring their meal ticket or card with them in order to gain access to the dining hall. This is the only way that we can insure accurate meal counts and accurate billings to our clientele.

Guaranteed Counts:

In the contract that Linfield has with Sodexho, the C&EP staff is responsible for providing guaranteed meal counts at least two weeks prior to a conference group's arrival. (This date will usually be specified in the C&EP Office's contract with each conference group.) At the time that we (C&EP) ask each conference group for their guaranteed meal counts, the conference planner is requested to give his/her best possible estimate at the number of participants taking part in each meal. After that information has been given to Sodexho, the conference group has a margin of plus or minus 5 percent. This means that if a conference planner provides the C&EP Office with a guaranteed count of 100 participants, and the actual numbers are only 75, the conference group will automatically be charged for 95. This also works the other way, in that Sodexho will only be responsible for having enough food to feed 5 percent more than the guaranteed count. As a conference planner, it is imperative for your group's financial success that you are able to provide meal counts that are as accurate as possible.

Sodexho is able to provide a wide variety of catering services for our summer conference clientele, ranging from small beverage service to a fully served steak dinner. Prices for these services will vary depending upon the menus chosen. A barbecue that contains hamburgers, hot dogs, garden burgers, potato or macaroni salad, condiments, simple dessert items, and drinks, will generally be charged at the same price as a cafeteria-style dinner served inside the dining commons. The served meals include table settings, service personnel, coffee, tea, appropriate condiments, salad, side dish, vegetables, main entree and dessert. There are also some buffet dinners available, which would include table settings, service personnel, coffee, tea, appropriate condiments, and the buffet menu of your choice. Due to the fact that food costs change fairly frequently, we have chosen to not include prices in this publication. However, we will provide choices of entrees and their prices upon request.